Berk's Quirks
by Poetic Devices
Summary: A couple of one-shots revealing the quirkier sides of Berk's dragon riders. Might have more parts added if they're requested.
1. Fast-Talk

**A/N**

So... it seemed like more of these would be inevitable. I originally wrote this as a single drabble fic, but I think I'll make it into more of a series. Thanks for reading!

* * *

summary: Hiccup shows off his deeper nerdy-self with some information about the Monstrous Nightmare, and his friends have mixed thoughts on his amazing display of knowledge.

Basically how to be Berk's biggest geek.

* * *

"I'm still curious though, how _does _Hookfang set himself on fire, anyway?" Snotlout wondered aloud as he and the other Viking teens saddled their dragons in the training academy. He hadn't expected an answer, let alone a long, complicated one from Hiccup. Well, actually, yeah he did.

"Well it's an amazing process really," Hiccup began, "It all starts with the sensory nerves located in the draco-epidermis just beneath the scaly first layer of Monstrous Nightmare skin, you see the 'fight-or-flight' response from any dragon will trigger the fire-making glands and cause an ignition of either the self-made gases from within the body or, in Hookfang's case, the slick flammable coating on his scales, which causes a chain reaction all over the dragon and makes him light up like a torch, and _then..."_

"Uhhh..." Astrid tried to keep up with Hiccup's sudden stream of words. Her hands went limp at Stormfly's saddle.

"Hiccup... I don't understand half of what you're saying..."

"Shh!" Fishlegs nudged the blonde from where he was standing. "I'm _listening_. He's a total genius! I didn't know Hiccup knew so much about Monstrous Nightmare fire, did you? There was never this much information in the Book of Dragons on how Snotlout's dragon actually starts its fire."

Hiccup wasn't finished yet.

"The process is learned during the first week or so of a Monstrous Nightmare's life and is not _taught_ but rather a self-learned experience that all dragons must go through in the early stages of life, so in conclusion..."

Snotlout was staring. The twins gawked, letting their arms hang at their sides, too confused to so much as elbow eachother for an explanation. When Hiccup was finally finished his long rant, Astrid asked,

"Hiccup, _where _on _earth _did you learn all that? It couldn't have been in the Book of Dragons, could it?"

"Huh? Wait, what? I'm sort of blanking on the past few minutes." Hiccup scrunched his eyebrows together, looking confusedly from one teen to the next.

"You were just giving one of the nerdiest speed-lectures in Viking history, if you were wondering" Snotlout interrupted.

"I-I was? Oh... sorry."

Fishlegs pushed past Astrid and rushed over to Hiccup.

"Sorry?! You've gotta tell me more about this! Okay, so how does it work with _Zipplebacks?"_

The rest of the teenagers watched as Fishlegs and the dragon expert walked back up to the village, eyes wide.

Tuffnut was the one to break the silence.

"So uh... did anyone else besides Fishlegs understand mister fast-talk's speech?"

Everyone shook their heads.

**::::::::::::**

**A/N**

The inspiration for this fic came from a prompt sent to me by tumblr user howtotrainyourbabyboo (if anyone's got a tumblr go and follow that awesome person). Thanks!


	2. Muscles

Summary: Astrid works out. a lot. And she's acquired a habit of checking her muscles out in the mirror every time she gets home from a day of training.

* * *

Astrid liked to work out. A lot. She was always pretty happy about how in-shape she kept herself, so why shouldn't she be proud of her well-earned, worked-for muscles? If the guys could show off their brute strength and flex their arms in public like it was no big deal, she saw no problem with putting on a bit of muscle herself. One habit Astrid had acquired over the years was something she didn't think too much about, but kept to herself all the same. Every day after hours of training, she would go home, look in the mirror, and flex her arms to see if she had made any progress. She did in private what Snotlout did in public - she gloated to herself about it.

It was just another day, and another hard day's work of training. Astrid sauntered home, sweaty and tired but feeling good. She hiked upstairs to her room, where a cracked but clean mirror hung on the wall next to her bed.

"Okay Astrid," she said to her reflection, "any more progress today?" She held up an arm, flexing it and showing off some sizeable biceps that might rival Tuffnut's, if she ever actually took him up on his offers for an arm-wrestling match. Astrid made a face in the mirror, pretending to be Snotlout.

"Oh yeah, check _you _out Astrid. _You_ look like you work out, don't you?"

She continued to mess around in front of her mirror, oblivious to anyone who might be nearby, listening.

* * *

Hiccup, on the other hand, was struggling like his life depended on it to not completely crack up from where he stood just outside Astrid's bedroom door. He'd originally come up to ask if she had some extra leather to fix up a dragon's saddle, and instead he had almost walked in on Astrid making war faces in her mirror while flexing her arms like Snotlout did sometimes.

"Oh man, this is too great" he chuckled to himself as he slipped out of Astrid's house and back to his own place, thinking about what he was going to say tomorrow. If he _did _decide he should say anything.

* * *

The next day in the training academy, all the teens were grouped in the middle of the arena to begin a drill. This drill was designed to test everyone's ability to hold on to a dragon, should it ever try to throw its rider off the saddle.

"All right, quiet down everyone!" Hiccup called over the chatter. Everyone turned to look at him. There was Astrid, he noticed, cracking her knuckles casually, without a clue at all that someone knew about her little _quirk. _Hiccup bit his lip to stay serious and continued talking to everyone.

"Today's lesson is all about endurance, stamina, and..." his eyes wandered to Astrid, "..strength."

Snotlout gave a cheer and high-fived Tuffnut, knowing he was the perfect match for this sort of drill. Astrid, standing behind him, only rolled her eyes and blew away a bit of her from her cheek. Hiccup grinned.

"Well, I'm glad you guys are so excited to get started. Snotlout! How about you get up here first? You won't need to saddle Hookfang this time."

Snotlout pumped his fist in the air. "Heck yeah! Snotlout, Snotlout, oi oi oi!" The swarthy Viking teen marched confidently over to his dragon and swung a leg over the Monstrous Nightmare's back.

"Ready?" Hiccup asked. "The goal is to hang on for as long as you can. It's all about having a good grip around the neck, and the rest of the responsibility falls to arm muscles."

Snotlout gave a thumbs up.

"Aaand go!" Hiccup pulled out a dead eel from under his vest and swung it right under the Nightmare's nose.

The dragon went ballistic. In about ten seconds or less, Snotlout was catapulted from his dragon and landed with a nice _thud _next to the water trough.

"Looks like that's it for you, Snotlout. Astrid, I want you to go next."

Astrid gave Hiccup a puzzled look but walked over to Stormfly, mounting with a bit more grace than Snotlout had done.

"Ready?" said Hiccup.

"Let's do this" Astrid responded. Hiccup nodded back.

"Go!"

This time the dragon went just as insane, but it was the rider who showed a huge difference. About five minutes in, and Astrid was still holding on firmly to the back of her nadder.

"Okay, okay! You can be done now!" Hiccup shouted. Astrid scratched Stormfly in her favorite area and the dragon calmed down immediately. She hopped off the nadder's back and walked haughtily back past Snotlout, whose mouth was hanging open in shock.

"But how... I don't get it... she just..." His words hung in the air while Astrid only watched him smugly with a hand on her hip. The rest of her friends wore similar expressions of surprise.

"That was... kind of amazing" Ruffnut said. "I thought you had to be, like, _strong _to do that?"

Astrid smirked. "I'm stronger than I look" she answered simply.

"Well, yeah, but you're still all skinny and everything."

"Not completely" Hiccup intervened. "Astrid, flex you arms."

All eyes turned to Hiccup. Astrid looked the most confused.

"Flex... what?" Astrid asked.

"You heard me" Hiccup responded. Hesitantly, Astrid raised an arm and flexed her bicep, which went from its limp, relaxed state to its tensed, toned bulk of pure muscle. Not a single person in the arena was unimpressed, especially Snotlout.

"I don't believe it" the brawny teenager murmured.

"So there's someone else here who's a little stronger than you are. Get used to it." Hiccup cracked a smile at Astrid, who turned red.

"Should I even ask?" she whispered to him as the rest of the teens prepared to be drilled.

Hiccup chuckled. "Um... I'd really rather you didn't."


	3. Not the Time

**_:::::::A/N:::::::_**

This is a Hicstrid drabble right here, something that was requested by tumblr user howtotrainyourdragenz. Hiccup and Astrid come up with a new flirting game during a lesson.

These events take place about 2 years before httyd2, when Hiccup and Astrid are still mayyybe having some awkward moments but are more comfortable with eachother than they were in httyd 1. No spoilers of course.

* * *

"Okay class! Today, we're going to be studying the eating habits of Terrible Terrors!" Hiccup announced, standing next to his girlfriend and teaching partner in the training academy.

"Booooring" Tuffnut yelled from across the ring. Ruffnut groaned and nodded in agreement. Snotlout made a face. Even Fishlegs looked like he would rather be doing something else.

"Aw c'mon guys!" Hiccup pleaded, waving his arms in the air to get everyone's attention back. "Look, I know it's not the most interesting thing in the world. But it's necessary! All right, everyone head to the terrible terrors's pen and grab a terror. Tuffnut! Make sure yours doesn't bite you this time, for Thorssake!" Hiccup gave an exhausted roll of his eyes and turned to Astrid, who had been watching for the most part.

"…You don't really think it's that boring, do you?" asked her boyfriend. Astrid gave him an apologetic smile.

"Well… you've gotta admit it's not the most interesting thing to be learning about. Or teaching."

With a huff, Hiccup held his hands in the air, like he was pleading with Odin to make this day go by faster.

"But I'm sure we can make it interesting" Astrid added. Hiccup raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? And how do you propose we do th—-"

Suddenly Astrid's hand was on the back of his neck, her fingers crawling up into his hair and causing an altogether unpleasant tickling sensation.

"Gah!" Hiccup yelped and leapt away. "Hey! This is so _not_ the time. Why'd you do that?"

Astrid smirked. "I did say we could make this _interesting_, right?"

It was with an uneasy glare that Hiccup muttered to his mischievous girlfriend, "Okay… I'm listening."

Astrid chuckled. "Easy. Try to make me laugh... or yelp... or make any noise at all that would give us away to the others. Do that and you win. If _I_ can make _you_ crack first in front of the others, then I win. You have to try and be as secret about it as possible. Got it?"

"Hmm… I don't know."

"Would you rather spend your time being bored out of your skull?"

Hiccup sighed tiredly. "Fine. Sounds like a plan. And you are _so_ going down, milady."

Astrid snickered. "Not if I can help it." Hiccup eyed her nervously but said nothing more.

The others teens returned, each with a wriggling terror in their arms. Astrid stood shoulder to shoulder with Hiccup. The game was on.

"So everyone, if you would just set your-… g-…" Astrid's fingers were playing dangerously low on his back, right above his belt. That girl was way out of line. "I-if you would just set your terrible terrors in your designated areas, we can begin—" Everyone eyed Hiccup suspiciously as he fidgeted where he stood and shook his shoulders a bit, like he was trying to shake off a mosquito. But they all went to their areas and set their dragons down.

It was Hiccup's move now. He grabbed behind his back and caught hold of Astrid's wrist, stopping those evil fingers from straying any further down.

"Okay guys, I think Astrid can take it from here" he said, looking at the smiling blonde devil as he raised his eyebrows high. "Go on" he urged her, motioning for her to start the lesson. Astrid gladly took the stage.

"Okay everyone, since I assume you all have the food samples to give to your dragons- erm-" she paused for a moment. Hiccup had his metal leg hooked around her ankle, pulling her leg in front of his, and stopping her from moving away. But she kept going. "Erm, you can go ahead and bring the samples out. Start with the chunks of salmon and take notes when they start feeding. Be sure to observe their…" Hiccup's hand was sneaking behind her, taking her by the waist and slowly making his fingers climb up her side. That little…

"I- just, make sure you observe their… observe their — gah! HICCUP!" two fingers had pinched down around her waist, creating a mixture of pleasure and pain that felt like she had been tickled violently in one spot. The teens's heads all snapped up to see why Astrid had yelled.

"Haha! I win!" Hiccup laughed and pumped a fist in the air, making everyone else stare at the two. Snotlout only just realized how close the couple was standing together.

"Uhh… should I even ask?" He put his hands on his hips.

Hiccup and Astrid looked at Snotlout, then at eachother, and bit back giggles.

"Eh… nope" Hiccup responded, turning a slight shade of pink. Astrid crossed her arms in a huff. She leaned sideways and whispered in her boyfriend's ear,

"Next time, I'm taking you down."

This time it was Hiccup who smirked.

"Can't wait" he said openly, with a waggle of his eyebrows that earned the two a few wolf whistles from the twins. Neither one cared.

After that, the little "flirting game" became a regular thing between the two.

It definitely made their days together less boring.


	4. Head up High

Summary: Toothless is the alpha dragon now, and he's letting it get to his head. A couple months after the events of httyd 2. spoiler warning.

* * *

That night fury was a character, everyone knew that much. But now his confidence had reached an all-time high - and maybe not in a good way.

"Toothless! I needed you here an hour ago, bud! Where were you? You KNOW our academy duties start at one hour after noon! Hey! Do _not_ stick your nose up at me, sourpuss! What's gotten into you?"

Hiccup was scolding that dragon for something of the umpteenth time since they had become chief and alpha, respectably. Now, Hiccup was pretty sure all the power was getting to Toothless's head. And it was getting annoying.

"I get it, I _get_ it, the big baby-boo is the great alpha dragon now. But that doesn't mean you can just go about shirking your other duties - hey, get back here! I'm not done with you! Toothless! Did you hear me?"

Toothless gave him the most exasperated look he could pull off, then lazily turned around and began to saunter away. That ticked Hiccup off even more.

"Oh _Tooth_leeeess..." he called in a teasing voice. Toothless stopped walking but still didn't turn around. "If you help me out I'l double the amount of cod you get for dinner tonight. Doesn't that sound good?"

Toothless didn't want to give in. His pride wouldn't let him. Nope... no way... Okay, fine, yes it would. The night fury turned around, a very bored expression on his face. It looked like he was saying, "Fine, I'll help, but I won't be happy about it."

"Good" Hiccup said, reading his friend's irritated look. "Let's get going then."

* * *

Everyone was already waiting in the training academy for lessons to begin. The dragons were lazing about, happy to be free of the new alpha dragon for a few short moments.

"_Finally_" Astrid muttered as she watched the young chief and the great black dragon walk through the entrance of the academy. "Thought you guys would never make it" she called to them from across the ring.

"Yeah yeah, sorry" Hiccup responded, walking up to the rest of the group, who were ready to get started with planning the lessons for the new dragon riders who would be coming in next spring. "Toothless was being difficult - _ow_!"

Toothless had flicked a pebble at the chief's head with his tail. "Oh, give it a rest!" he snapped at the night fury. "I don't care if you're the 'alpha dragon,' I'm the CHIEF, so you also have to listen to m- OW!" Another pebble bounced off his forehead. Great. An alpha with an attitude. Hiccup huffed. "Fine, let's just start planning the lessons. What do you guys have so far?"

Snotlout stepped forward with a sheet of paper in his hand. "Well, I suggested we introduce the new riders to OUR dragons first, have them meet the ones that've already been trained and befriended. They won't be a terrifying as when they meet their own dragons. We should ease them into it."

"Hmm... good thinking" Hiccup said with a nod. As he continued discussing the rest of the ideas with his comrades, Toothless sidled over to the other dragons, who were hanging around by the gated pens. All of them sat up straight when they saw the night fury coming their way. Oh, how wonderful, the alpha was coming to "enforce his status."

Toothless passed each dragon with his head up high, looking directly at each of them until their ears flattened. One dragon didn't completely back down from his gaze, though: the bright blue nadder, Stormfly. Toothless delivered a semi-intimidating glare, but other dragon sat where she was. Toothless was not pleased. He sat straight up in front of her. He pawed the dirt. He flicked his tail. He got in the nadder's face and hissed, with his nostrils glowing blue. Stormfly squawked at him but displayed no submission whatsoever. The other dragons watched in awe. Their riders even seemed to be paying attention now. The twins whispered to eachother, tittering. Fishlegs looked nervous. Hiccup turned around to see what everyone was looking at.

Oh, fantastic, he's at it again.

"Uh... Toothless? You can stop now, I think you've made your point, bud."

Toothless paid no mind and continued to stare down the deadly nadder.

"Hey! C'mon Toothless, is it really worth it? They KNOW you're their leader, just give it a rest for now, go intimidate the other dragons and keep them in line."

Astrid walked up beside him and smirked. "Stormfly's showing that night fury she won't be messed with."

"Greeeeat" muttered Hiccup. "And neither one's going to back down, huh?"

"Nope."

"Why can't your dragon just accept that Toothless is the alpha now and get over it?"

"Well... _I've_ accepted you as the _chief_ now, but that doesn't mean I've given up bossing you around and beating you up when you need it."

"Ah... You make a good point. But Toothless and I are still in charge."

Astrid laughed lightly. "Sure. But don't think I won't call you act if you ever start behaving like Toothless."

Rubbing the back of his neck, Hiccup chuckled, "By all means, please tell me if I ever get that big a head."

Toothless's head snapped around.

"Only kidding" Hiccup said to his friend. "...Maybe" he added under his breath.


End file.
